100 Years Strong: Miller Electric

Weld process monitoring with Miller's innovative Axcess® E with Insight™ system. At right: Miller's AEA 200 engine-driven welder, circa 1940. The ITW Toolbox market segmentation tools help Miller provide highly focused customer solutions while continuing to serve the broad market with well-known, industry-standard machines.

A TOOLBOX FOR TRANSFORMATION

There are successful businesses, and there are outstanding businesses. The ITW Toolbox transformed Miller Electric from a solid company into a patent leader and the anchor of ITW's welding platform.

Heavy construction in early industrial North America was no easy task. In cities, metal parts were fused with arc welding (a direct electric current) requiring large, expensive motor generators. Rural areas still relied on the ancient method of forge and hammer. But in 1929, the small, affordable arc welder invented by Niels Miller helped change the course of welding.

Miller incorporated the Miller Electric Mfg. Co. in 1935, and for the next 58 years his engineers would bring new levels of portability and efficiency to the industry. When Miller family descendants decided to sell to ITW in 1993, Miller was a solid company with good customer relationships and an average number of industry patents. It was a smart choice for ITW, because the ITW Toolbox could turn Miller into something even greater: the foundation for an entire ITW welding platform that would provide customer-based solutions that drive long-term profitable growth.

The toolbox is not a manual of written guidelines handed to management of newly acquired companies. But within the ITW organization, proven business principles such as simplification, 80/20, and others are gospel. Once acquired, Miller took on the challenge of toolbox application and transformed its operations. Product delivery went from six weeks to same day, while production quadrupled. ITW's guidance also boosted innovation at Miller, leading to more patents and expansion into new areas such as fume extraction and weld environment personal protection.

Miller has always excelled at manufacturing products with broad application that serve an undifferentiated marketplace. But within end-user markets, each customer uses welding in a slightly different way, which presents an opportunity for greater growth. Tools such as 80/20 and simplification allowed Miller to develop end-market segment teams laser focused on their customers and the challenges they face.

As a result, Miller has moved toward "outside in" manufacturing that prioritizes and targets highly specific customer needs, while maintaining a portfolio of components that enjoy broad industry preference. Applying the toolbox and gaining access to new branded products through ITW's acquisitions—such as Bernard's MIG guns or Hobart Brothers' welding wire—enables Miller to offer a total solutions package tailored to customer needs.

For example, Miller works closely with AGCO, one of the largest multi-national manufacturers of agricultural equipment and replacement products. Miller identified key challenges in AGCO's business and developed tools and solutions tailored to reduce costs and increase productivity in AGCO's operations. As AGCO's growth continues, these solutions have the potential for application in new global markets.

"With the strength of ITW behind us, we are able to acquire and develop technology that fosters innovation and develop solutions that narrow the focus to specific end-user needs," explains Tim Temby, ITW Welding group president.

In recent years, Miller began sharing the ITW Toolbox philosophy and training with its distribution partners to further strengthen its ties to customers. It continues to formulate and organize teams focused on end-market needs, while innovating with game-changing products like Axcess® E with Insight™ weld process monitoring.